Scottish Executive

Ambulance Service

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will detail the range of medical equipment considered to be standard equipment in Scottish ambulances, and how many ambulances in Scotland do not carry the full range of such equipment.

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many ambulances in (a) Scotland and (b) Glasgow rely on inflatable splints rather than traction splints.

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of Scottish ambulance services do not authorise their staff to decompress tension pneumothorax.

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many ambulances in (a) Scotland and (b) Glasgow do not carry the appropriate masks to administer oxygen to severely injured patients; in particular, how many ambulances in each of these areas do not carry (i) nasopharyngeal airways to deliver oxygen to patients with facial spasms and (ii) an alternative to the endotracheal tube for ventilating the windpipe, and what percentage of ambulances in each of these areas each of these figures represents.

Susan Deacon: All ambulance procurement is carried out to a clear specification of vehicle and equipment needs. Arrangements are in place for maintaining and replacing equipment when necessary. Standing operating procedures determine who may use what equipment and in what circumstances. I asked Mr Adrian Lucas, Chief Executive of the Scottish Ambulance Service, to write offering you a briefing about these matters, and I believe he has done so.

Asylum Seekers

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to provide support to pre-five nursery and education services for asylum seekers.

Nicol Stephen: Where families with pre-school children are granted exceptional leave to remain in the UK, these children are entitled to receive the full benefit of up to two years of grant-funded pre-school education.

  Where asylum decisions are pending, the priority is to provide integrated packages of family, child care and education support. My officials are currently discussing with representatives of the Scottish Asylum Seekers Consortium how such integrated packages might best be developed and resourced, using various streams of Executive funding in flexible ways.

Cancer

Mr Keith Raffan (Mid Scotland and Fife) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive in which health boards the additional £13 million worth of new and replacement linear accelerators for radiotherapy will be located and how many patients this new equipment is expected to treat annually.

Susan Deacon: £13.2 million is committed from the NHS Capital Modernisation Fund to provide state of the art linear accelerators and treatment planning computers for the delivery of radiotherapy in Scotland’s five Cancer Centres.

  In June last year, I announced the first round of equipment purchases totalling £5.8 million, to buy four linear accelerators and three simulators. The centres benefiting from this investment are Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee and Aberdeen.

  Additionally, as a result of separate procurement exercises, the Cancer Centres in Inverness and Glasgow will also receive new linear accelerators. Inverness has recently installed a simulator and have received delivery of a linear accelerator. The Glasgow centre will receive three linear accelerators. These will be sited in Gartnavel Hospital where the specialist buildings required to house them have been constructed.

  26,000 Scots are diagnosed with cancer each year. Cancer is a priority for NHSScotland and Cancer Centres give high priority to starting treatment as soon as possible after clinical decisions on treatment options have been made. Treatment may not always include radiotherapy for which referral would normally be made by clinicians after discussion and agreement with patients. These factors will determine the number of patients who will be treated annually by this major equipment investment.

  Decisions on allocating the balance of £7.4 million have still to be taken and will be informed by a future needs assessment process that is currently ongoing.

Cancer

Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) facilities are available to patients in the Grampian Health Board area; where these facilities are located; how long they have been in place, and how the current provision compares to the provision of MRI facilities in the periods (i) 1996-97, (ii) 1997-98, (iii)1998-99 and (iv)1999-2000.

Susan Deacon: In August last year the Scottish Executive announced a £16 million investment in new imaging equipment to assist in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer in Scotland. That sum included £5 million for the provision of MRI scanners.

  I am asking the Chairman of Grampian University Hospitals NHS Trust to write to you to provide the operational information you request about MRI facilities in Grampian.

Care of the Elderly

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-9974 by Susan Deacon on 11 December 2000, how and when the £14.5 million to be used for care for elderly people will be allocated.

Malcolm Chisholm: £10 million was allocated to health boards on 22 February to work with local authorities building on initiatives for older people undertaken over the winter. The balance of £4.5 million has been allocated for a range of other initiatives benefiting older people, including improvement of information systems. £3.55 million of this has been allocated to local authorities.

Care of the Elderly

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost will be of providing nursing home care for all the pensioners currently awaiting a place in a nursing home, following Lord Hardie’s recent judgement in the Court of Session in the recent Arthur MacGregor case, broken down by local authority.

Susan Deacon: I understand that South Lanarkshire Council have lodged an appeal in relation to this decision. It would therefore be inappropriate to comment in the meantime.

Child Protection

Mr Gil Paterson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-11562 by Mr Jack McConnell on 11 December 2000, what aspects of abuse prevention and child protection Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Schools considers when inspecting a school.

Mr Jack McConnell: Aspects of abuse prevention covered in inspection, in relation to drugs and alcohol, include evaluation of the structure and delivery of programmes for personal and social development at all stages, examination of procedures for dealing with drug-related incidents and evaluation of the extent to which schools promote a healthy lifestyle.

  Aspects of child protection covered in inspection, in relation to bullying, physical assault, sexual assault or racial matters include seeking information on any allegations or incidents over the previous five years, evaluating the effectiveness of the school’s procedures in dealing with such matters, taking account of parents’ and pupils’ views on the school’s child protection procedures and generally evaluating the school’s policy and practice for child protection. Whilst inspections do not specifically cover aspects of abuse in the home, they do include the appropriateness of procedures for dealing with any disclosures.

Child Protection

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-8321 by Mr Jim Wallace on 12 July 2000, when it will publish the outcome of the consultation on The Physical Punishment of Children in Scotland: A Consultation .

Mr Jim Wallace: We hope to make an announcement shortly.

Child Protection

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many child protection officers there were in (a) 1997-98, (b) 1998-99 and (c) 1999-2000.

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many child protection officers there currently are (a) in total and (b) in relation to the total population of children in Scotland, expressed as a children:child protection officer ratio and where these child protection officers are located.

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how the current children:child protection officer ratio in Scotland compares with the equivalent ratios in the other component parts of the UK.

Nicol Stephen: This information is not held centrally. Many agencies in the statutory, voluntary and independent sectors are involved in child protection. Within these agencies, staff involved in child protection will often have wider duties and the term "child protection officer" has no common or agreed meaning at a local level. We do, however, monitor and publish statistical information on child protection referrals.

Children

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to make parents pay the financial cost of vandalism caused by their children.

Nicol Stephen: No. The Scottish Executive’s aim is to improve the operation of the current system which requires children to face up to their responsibilities and to change their behaviour to stop offending in future. In addition to their responsibilities under section 1 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, parents are required to attend a children’s hearing and are encouraged to support their children in complying with any supervision requirement.

  A supervision requirement on a child from a children’s hearing may include a requirement on the child to make reparation to a victim or to the community. The Youth Crime Review seeks to extend the range of suitable programmes and measures available to children’s hearings.

Community Care

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-11246 by Malcolm Chisholm on 9 January 2001, whether it will require local authorities to provide at the end of the financial year a detailed statement of account showing how the resources for resolving problems of delayed discharge were spent, including details of the specific purposes for which any surpluses of funds not required to deal with problems of delayed discharge were used.

Malcolm Chisholm: Authorities are accountable to their electorates and are required to produce audited accounts as well as a wide range of information related to the £800 million they spend on community care services. However, in this particular case performance is monitored through a quarterly census.

Community Care

Mr John McAllion (Dundee East) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any decision has been taken on the location of the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care and the Scottish Social Services Council.

Malcolm Chisholm: Subject to Parliament approving the principles of the Regulation of Care Bill, it is proposed to co-locate the Scottish Social Services Council and the headquarters of the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care in Dundee . The headquarters building will also serve as the commission’s regional office for that region.

Domestic Abuse

Mr Gil Paterson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to introduce specialised domestic violence courts.

Jackie Baillie: The Scottish Executive is committed to implementing the Action Plan in the National Strategy to Address Domestic Abuse in Scotland . This will include a review of legislation and legal processes.

Education

Mr Jamie Stone (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what the real terms expenditure per pupil was in (i) 1979, (ii) 1990 and (iii) in each year since 1992, in (a) Scotland and (b) each education authority.

Mr Jack McConnell: The information requested is given in the tables which cover the primary, secondary and special school sectors. Because of changes in funding arrangements over the years in question, information on nursery schools is not available in the form requested and is not, therefore, included in the table. 1998-99 is the latest year for which actual expenditure information is currently available.

  Table 1: Regional/Island Councils

  Current expenditure per pupil (£ at 1998-99 prices)

  


Regional/Islands Councils 
  

1979-80 
  

1990-91 
  

1992-93 
  

1993-94 
  

1994-95 
  

1995-96 
  



Borders 
  

1,692 
  

2,639 
  

2,861 
  

2,840 
  

2,840 
  

2,741 
  



Central 
  

1,689 
  

2,623 
  

2,770 
  

2,726 
  

2,681 
  

2,646 
  



Dumfries and Galloway 
  

1,690 
  

2,698 
  

2,909 
  

2,835 
  

2,812 
  

2,796 
  



Fife 
  

1,718 
  

2,665 
  

2,663 
  

2,566 
  

2,587 
  

2,571 
  



Grampian 
  

1,846 
  

2,721 
  

2,907 
  

2,799 
  

2,720 
  

2,763 
  



Highland 
  

1,694 
  

2,738 
  

2,904 
  

2,897 
  

2,931 
  

2,923 
  



Lothian 
  

1,910 
  

2,712 
  

2,815 
  

2,721 
  

2,727 
  

2,684 
  



Strathclyde 
  

1,786 
  

2,684 
  

2,748 
  

2,653 
  

2,686 
  

2,712 
  



Tayside 
  

1,723 
  

2,591 
  

2,797 
  

2,685 
  

2,721 
  

2,694 
  



Orkney Isles 
  

2,146 
  

3,496 
  

3,591 
  

3,658 
  

3,648 
  

3,621 
  



Shetland Isles 
  

2,120 
  

4,117 
  

4,205 
  

4,441 
  

4,253 
  

4,276 
  



Western Isles (Eilean Siar) 
  

2,048 
  

3,529 
  

4,262 
  

4,092 
  

4,260 
  

4,210 
  



Scotland 
  

1,790 
  

2,699 
  

2,807 
  

2,720 
  

2,730 
  

2,732 
  



  Notes:

  1. All figures represent net revenue expenditure met from council tax, non-domestic rates and Government grants, excluding costs of home to school transport, school meals, education authority central administration costs, and loan and leasing charges.

  2. Figures derived from local authority financial returns (LFR 1) and the annual school census.

  3. Expenditure per pupil has been adjusted to 1998-99 prices using the GDP deflator.

  Table 2: Unitary Councils

  Current expenditure per pupil (£ at 1998-99 prices)

  


Councils 
  

1996-97 
  

1997-98 
  

1998-99 
  



Aberdeen, City 
  

2,682 
  

2,674 
  

2,714 
  



Aberdeenshire 
  

2,573 
  

2,557 
  

2,613 
  



Angus 
  

2,578 
  

2,611 
  

2,671 
  



Argyll and Bute 
  

2,939 
  

2,751 
  

2,758 
  



Clackmannanshire 
  

2,708 
  

2,604 
  

2,678 
  



Dumfries and Galloway 
  

2,716 
  

2,677 
  

2,712 
  



Dundee 
  

2,798 
  

2,809 
  

2,811 
  



East Ayrshire 
  

2,478 
  

2,565 
  

2,337 
  



East Dunbartonshire 
  

2,340 
  

2,287 
  

2,404 
  



East Lothian 
  

2,525 
  

2,385 
  

2,457 
  



East Renfrewshire 
  

2,282 
  

2,349 
  

2,403 
  



Edinburgh, City 
  

2,552 
  

2,577 
  

2,676 
  



Eilean Siar 
  

4,133 
  

4,120 
  

4,334 
  



Falkirk 
  

2,519 
  

2,499 
  

2,585 
  



Fife 
  

2,532 
  

2,510 
  

2,610 
  



Glasgow City 
  

2,905 
  

2,721 
  

2,833 
  



Highland 
  

2,912 
  

2,823 
  

2,883 
  



Inverclyde 
  

2,489 
  

2,473 
  

2,651 
  



Midlothian 
  

2,641 
  

2,626 
  

2,707 
  



Moray 
  

2,676 
  

2,601 
  

2,696 
  



North Ayrshire 
  

2,593 
  

2,576 
  

2,627 
  



North Lanarkshire 
  

2,606 
  

2,655 
  

2,646 
  



Orkney 
  

3,635 
  

3,664 
  

3,691 
  



Perth and Kinross 
  

2,578 
  

2,536 
  

2,488 
  



Renfrewshire 
  

2,539 
  

2,450 
  

2,506 
  



Scottish Borders 
  

2,744 
  

2,542 
  

2,556 
  



Shetland 
  

4,292 
  

4,197 
  

4,540 
  



South Ayrshire 
  

2,453 
  

2,461 
  

2,488 
  



South Lanarkshire 
  

2,570 
  

2,555 
  

2,513 
  



Stirling 
  

2,782 
  

2,685 
  

2,745 
  



West Dunbartonshire 
  

2,606 
  

2,508 
  

2,612 
  



West Lothian 
  

2,611 
  

2,539 
  

2,586 
  



Scotland 
  

2,657 
  

2,613 
  

2,663 
  



  Notes:

  1. All figures represent net revenue expenditure met from council tax, non-domestic rates and Government grants, excluding costs of home to school transport, school meals, education authority central administration costs, and loan and leasing charges.

  2. Figures derived from local authority financial returns (LFR 1) and the annual school census.

  3. Expenditure per pupil has been adjusted to 1998-99 prices using the GDP deflator.

Education

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-12336 by Nicol Stephen on 22 January 2001, which local authorities, schools and organisations have applied for assistance under the Alternatives to Exclusion Grant Scheme and which applications have been granted, specifying the amount awarded in each case.

Nicol Stephen: The funding available through the Excellence Fund Alternatives to Exclusion programme is allocated to local authorities on a formula basis. It is for each authority to determine how best to use its allocation in line with its implementation plan for the area. The allocations over the three-year period from 1 April 1999 to 31 March 2002 are shown in the table:

  


Education authority 
  

Allocation (£) 
  



1999-2000 
  

2000-01 
  

2001-02 
  



Scotland 
  

5,000,000 
  

8,000,000 
  

10,000,000 
  



Aberdeen City 
  

175,032 
  

280,052 
  

350,065 
  



Aberdeenshire 
  

251,052 
  

401,684 
  

502,104 
  



Angus 
  

113,126 
  

181,001 
  

226,251 
  



Argyll & Bute 
  

93,133 
  

149,013 
  

186,266 
  



Clackmannanshire 
  

48,331 
  

77,330 
  

96,663 
  



Dumfries & Galloway 
  

156,778 
  

250,845 
  

313,557 
  



Dundee City 
  

137,800 
  

220,480 
  

275,600 
  



East Ayrshire 
  

126,487 
  

202,379 
  

252,974 
  



East Dunbartonshire 
  

128,262 
  

205,218 
  

256,523 
  



East Lothian 
  

84,089 
  

134,543 
  

168,179 
  



East Renfrewshire 
  

104,126 
  

166,602 
  

208,252 
  



Edinburgh, City of 
  

319,854 
  

511,767 
  

639,709 
  



Eilean Siar 
  

38,354 
  

61,367 
  

76,709 
  



Falkirk 
  

136,925 
  

219,081 
  

273,851 
  



Fife 
  

352,406 
  

563,849 
  

704,812 
  



Glasgow City 
  

487,950 
  

780,721 
  

975,901 
  



Highland 
  

235,564 
  

376,902 
  

471,128 
  



Inverclyde 
  

88,180 
  

141,087 
  

176,359 
  



Midlothian 
  

84,826 
  

135,721 
  

169,652 
  



Moray 
  

91,981 
  

147,169 
  

183,962 
  



North Ayrshire 
  

142,794 
  

228,470 
  

285,587 
  



North Lanarkshire 
  

347,659 
  

556,254 
  

695,317 
  



Orkney Islands 
  

26,971 
  

43,154 
  

53,943 
  



Perth & Kinross 
  

125,326 
  

200,521 
  

250,651 
  



Renfrewshire 
  

179,703 
  

287,525 
  

359,406 
  



Scottish Borders 
  

107,029 
  

171,247 
  

214,058 
  



Shetland Islands 
  

32,148 
  

51,436 
  

64,295 
  



South Ayrshire 
  

116,706 
  

186,729 
  

233,411 
  



South Lanarkshire 
  

314,836 
  

503,737 
  

629,672 
  



Stirling 
  

85,016 
  

136,026 
  

170,032 
  



West Dunbartonshire 
  

103,451 
  

165,521 
  

206,901 
  



West Lothian 
  

164,105 
  

262,568 
  

328,211

Employment

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many jobs have been created in Glasgow as a result of moving civil servants responsible for higher education there.

Angus MacKay: The transfer of Enterprise and Lifelong Learning from Edinburgh to Glasgow in 1999-2000 means that 21.5 full-time equivalent posts in the Higher Education, Science, and Student Support Divisions are now based in Glasgow.

European Convention on Human Rights

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the implications of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights are for rating valuation appeals.

Peter Peacock: The Executive has considered the compatibility of the current arrangements in respect of valuation appeals as presently contained in the Valuation Appeal Committee (Procedures in Appeals under the Valuation Acts) (Scotland) Regulations 1995, and the Valuation Appeal Panels and Committees (Scotland) Regulations 1996, and is satisfied that they are compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights.

European Funding

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many groups in (a) Glasgow and (b) Glasgow Kelvin have been unsuccessful in their bids for Objective 3 funding.

Angus MacKay: Applicants are required to indicate the local authority area within which will be found the addresses of the beneficiaries of their projects, but there is no breakdown below this level available at this stage. On this basis, there were 44 unsuccessful applications made in respect of the Glasgow City Council area. There were also 89 successful applications in respect of the Glasgow City Council area and these projects were awarded grants totalling £14,966,499.

  None of these figures take account of those applications which had beneficiaries in more than one local authority area, of which there were 214 successful applications and 154 unsuccessful applications across Lowland Scotland as a whole.

  In terms of the proportion of applications which were successful in securing funding, I can confirm that, of the 133 applications made in respect of the Glasgow area, 89 were awarded grants, a success rate of 66.9%. By comparison, the overall success rate of applicants to Objective 3 as a whole was only 59.6%.

European Union

Colin Campbell (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-12056 by Mr Jack McConnell on 4 January 2001, what specific issues it made contributions to in the preparations for the Inter-Governmental Conference in Nice; at what stage in each of these issues it was involved, and how often and to what extent the Scottish view prevailed over or modified any divergent United Kingdom view on each of these issues.

Mr Jack McConnell: Discussions between the Executive and the UK Government are normally conducted on a confidential basis. Scotland and the United Kingdom have every reason to be satisfied with the very successful outcome of the Nice summit.

Finance

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of UK GDP the Scottish assigned budget represented or is expected to represent in each of the years from 1994-95 to 2003-04 inclusive.

Angus MacKay: The sum of Scottish Departmental Expenditure Limits and Non-Domestic Rate Income, as a proportion of UK GDP, is set out in the table. Over the period, DEL + NDRI has grown by 15.5% in real terms.

  





Scottish DEL + NDRI as a proportion of UK 
  GDP
(%) 
  

UK GDP at market prices
(£ million) 
  

Scottish DEL + NDRI
at market prices
(£ million) 
  



1994-95 
  

2.03 
  

677,594 
  

13,730 
  



1995-96 
  

1.95 
  

713,980 
  

13,920 
  



1996-97 
  

1.87 
  

756,058 
  

14,168 
  



1997-98 
  

1.76 
  

805,402 
  

14,157 
  



1998-99 
  

1.73 
  

851,654 
  

14,704 
  



1999-2000 
  

1.74 
  

891,583 
  

15,510 
  



2000-01 
  

1.76 
  

936,697 
  

16,514 
  



2001-02 
  

1.81 
  

984,117 
  

17,797 
  



2002-03 
  

1.83 
  

1,033,941 
  

18,941 
  



2003-04 
  

1.84 
  

1,086,283 
  

20,023 
  



  * Figures for 2000-01 to 2003-04 are based on projections.

  Due to the conversion to resource accounting, the sum of DEL (Departmental Expenditure Limits) and NDRI (Non-Domestic Rate Income) is the most robust basis on which to make this comparison.

Finance

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all current Private Finance Initiative/Public Private Partnership projects in which it is involved and the annual interest payments associated with each.

Angus MacKay: A full list of PFI/PPP projects including those for which the Scottish Executive is directly responsible, is available from the Parliament’s Reference Centre. The annual interest payments for those of the Executive’s projects where such payments are currently being made, are matters of commercial confidentiality.

Food Standards

George Lyon (Argyll and Bute) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether salmon feed is routinely tested for levels of dioxins and other man-made pollutants.

Susan Deacon: I am advised by the Food Standards Agency that salmon feed is not routinely tested for levels of dioxins and other man-made pollutants.

Forestry

Mr John Home Robertson (East Lothian) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what arrangements are being made for representation from all sectors of the forestry and timber industries in the new training organisation associated with LANTRA and whether there are any plans for the Forestry Commission to cease funding the Forestry and Aboriculture Safety and Training Council.

Rhona Brankin: In preparation for the formation of a new forestry and timber industry group within the Lantra National Training Organisation, forestry ministers for Scotland, England and Wales have encouraged the forestry and timber industries to set up a team to negotiate with Lantra. The industries’ representatives have agreed an independent chairman, who is now leading the team that is taking the negotiations forward.

  The Forestry Commission has offered to support the new forestry and timber industry group, for up to three years, along similar lines to its arrangement with the Forestry and Arboriculture Safety and Training Council.

Freedom of Information

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the statement by Henry McLeish on 1 November 2000 that it intends to go further than the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information position that "information should be released except where disclosure would not be in the public interest" ( Official Report , col. 1198), which information which can currently be withheld under the exemptions in Part II of the code it is proposing to allow access to under its Freedom of Information Bill.

Mr Jim Wallace: In the Executive’s consultation document An Open Scotland  it was stated (paragraph 1.4) that "The statutory FOI regime will build upon, and extend, the principles of openness contained in the Code of Practice". A draft Freedom of Information Bill was published on 1 March 2001.

Health

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Health Technology Board for Scotland will report on the efficacy of the Alzheimer’s drug Aricept, Rivastigmine and Galantamine and, if so, when or whether the recommendations of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence will be adopted in Scotland.

Susan Deacon: The Health Technology Board for Scotland is currently working on a process to comment on all Final Appraisals from the National Institute for Clinical Excellence. Treatments for Alzheimer’s disease will be the first topic to go through this process in the spring.

  As an interim measure, the Scottish Executive has asked Drugs and Therapeutics Committees to review any advice they may have provided to their clinicians on the use of these treatments in Alzheimer’s disease, taking into account the NICE guidance.

Health Spending

Margaret Smith (Edinburgh West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what the expenditure was in real terms on health by head of population in each year since 1979, broken down by health board.

Susan Deacon: The tables provide details in real terms of total health board expenditure per head of population for the period requested. Two sets of figures have been provided for each year.

  The first set gives expenditure per head based on weighted populations. These weightings were used to calculate a health board three-year weighted average population that was used to allocate funding to each board under S.H.A.R.E.

  The second set uses population figures as provided by the General Register Office for Scotland.

  The revenue expenditure of health boards should not be taken to be a measure of funding nor does it represent the total funding of NHS Scotland. The total spending on health per head of population in Scotland for 1999-2000 was £966, rising to £1,060 for 2000–01.

  Table 1: 1978-79 to 1985-86

  


For year ending 31 March 
  



Health Board 
  

1979 
  

1980 
  

1981 
  

1982 
  

1983 
  

1984 
  

1985 
  

1986 
  






£/Pop 
  

£/Pop 
  

£/Pop 
  

£/Pop 
  

£/Pop 
  

£/Pop 
  

£/Pop 
  

£/Pop 
  



Weighted Population figures 
  



Argyll & Clyde 
  

416 
  

429 
  

454 
  

472 
  

482 
  

488 
  

503 
  

506 
  



Ayrshire/Arran 
  

343 
  

350 
  

380 
  

413 
  

435 
  

455 
  

460 
  

469 
  



Borders 
  

363 
  

362 
  

399 
  

402 
  

425 
  

431 
  

438 
  

442 
  



Dumfries & Galloway 
  

432 
  

455 
  

495 
  

504 
  

512 
  

521 
  

525 
  

529 
  



Fife 
  

396 
  

401 
  

425 
  

437 
  

451 
  

465 
  

475 
  

486 
  



Forth Valley 
  

469 
  

472 
  

516 
  

528 
  

547 
  

551 
  

559 
  

566 
  



Grampian 
  

508 
  

511 
  

562 
  

554 
  

566 
  

580 
  

588 
  

592 
  



Greater Glasgow 
  

574 
  

590 
  

648 
  

679 
  

680 
  

701 
  

727 
  

728 
  



Highland 
  

485 
  

492 
  

528 
  

548 
  

553 
  

552 
  

553 
  

559 
  



Lanarkshire 
  

426 
  

435 
  

478 
  

485 
  

500 
  

500 
  

516 
  

518 
  



Lothian 
  

568 
  

576 
  

617 
  

651 
  

649 
  

656 
  

668 
  

673 
  



Orkney 
  

N/A 
  

421 
  

394 
  

408 
  

425 
  

435 
  

434 
  

448 
  



Shetland 
  

N/A 
  

463 
  

413 
  

421 
  

427 
  

428 
  

380 
  

449 
  



Tayside 
  

617 
  

619 
  

672 
  

675 
  

682 
  

697 
  

700 
  

694 
  



Western Isles 
  

N/A 
  

441 
  

347 
  

371 
  

396 
  

414 
  

403 
  

416 
  



All Scotland 
  

495 
  

506 
  

547 
  

563 
  

572 
  

584 
  

594 
  

599 
  



Population figures from The General Register 
  Office for Scotland 
  



Argyll & Clyde 
  

422 
  

435 
  

459 
  

485 
  

492 
  

500 
  

507 
  

511 
  



Ayrshire/Arran 
  

340 
  

345 
  

373 
  

404 
  

427 
  

449 
  

460 
  

469 
  



Borders 
  

389 
  

393 
  

435 
  

399 
  

457 
  

467 
  

475 
  

485 
  



Dumfries & Galloway 
  

452 
  

475 
  

516 
  

517 
  

529 
  

543 
  

559 
  

560 
  



Fife 
  

363 
  

373 
  

402 
  

417 
  

427 
  

441 
  

453 
  

463 
  



Forth Valley 
  

436 
  

444 
  

483 
  

491 
  

506 
  

513 
  

525 
  

539 
  



Grampian 
  

478 
  

486 
  

538 
  

522 
  

523 
  

533 
  

542 
  

546 
  



Greater Glasgow 
  

653 
  

667 
  

734 
  

753 
  

757 
  

775 
  

794 
  

800 
  



Highland 
  

515 
  

526 
  

562 
  

578 
  

568 
  

574 
  

585 
  

590 
  



Lanarkshire 
  

383 
  

393 
  

428 
  

434 
  

447 
  

453 
  

469 
  

474 
  



Lothian 
  

551 
  

559 
  

600 
  

635 
  

631 
  

638 
  

646 
  

648 
  



Orkney 
  

386 
  

412 
  

449 
  

448 
  

455 
  

465 
  

477 
  

478 
  



Shetland 
  

373 
  

404 
  

437 
  

393 
  

429 
  

455 
  

419 
  

472 
  



Tayside 
  

617 
  

627 
  

684 
  

690 
  

692 
  

705 
  

711 
  

707 
  



Western Isles 
  

422 
  

441 
  

473 
  

485 
  

482 
  

502 
  

523 
  

536 
  



All Scotland 
  

498 
  

506 
  

550 
  

563 
  

572 
  

582 
  

594 
  

599 
  



  Table 2: 1986-87 to 1992-93

  


For year ending 31 March 
  



Health Board 
  

1987 
  

1988 
  

1989 
  

1990 
  

1991 
  

1992 
  

1993 
  






£/Pop 
  

£/Pop 
  

£/Pop 
  

£/Pop 
  

£/Pop 
  

£/Pop 
  

£/Pop 
  



Weighted Population figures 
  



Argyll & Clyde 
  

543 
  

563 
  

587 
  

597 
  

623 
  

723 
  

810 
  



Ayrshire/Arran 
  

504 
  

532 
  

558 
  

556 
  

590 
  

674 
  

764 
  



Borders 
  

470 
  

490 
  

536 
  

547 
  

568 
  

673 
  

761 
  



Dumfries & Galloway 
  

564 
  

578 
  

602 
  

585 
  

594 
  

710 
  

791 
  



Fife 
  

528 
  

542 
  

561 
  

564 
  

585 
  

659 
  

755 
  



Forth Valley 
  

610 
  

620 
  

652 
  

649 
  

675 
  

769 
  

786 
  



Grampian 
  

620 
  

631 
  

666 
  

671 
  

697 
  

800 
  

842 
  



Greater Glasgow 
  

766 
  

779 
  

822 
  

811 
  

848 
  

975 
  

912 
  



Highland 
  

603 
  

615 
  

647 
  

639 
  

676 
  

788 
  

817 
  



Lanarkshire 
  

555 
  

570 
  

600 
  

602 
  

627 
  

705 
  

785 
  



Lothian 
  

718 
  

725 
  

758 
  

757 
  

773 
  

873 
  

893 
  



Orkney 
  

458 
  

485 
  

495 
  

503 
  

515 
  

617 
  

780 
  



Shetland 
  

487 
  

506 
  

526 
  

526 
  

544 
  

674 
  

811 
  



Tayside 
  

723 
  

729 
  

766 
  

750 
  

785 
  

910 
  

936 
  



Western Isles 
  

443 
  

462 
  

477 
  

483 
  

521 
  

585 
  

804 
  



All Scotland 
  

636 
  

649 
  

681 
  

679 
  

705 
  

808 
  

842 
  



Population figures from The General Register 
  Office for Scotland 
  



Argyll & Clyde 
  

549 
  

570 
  

596 
  

602 
  

619 
  

715 
  

811 
  



Ayrshire/Arran 
  

502 
  

526 
  

547 
  

553 
  

586 
  

671 
  

752 
  



Borders 
  

516 
  

542 
  

587 
  

597 
  

615 
  

728 
  

823 
  



Dumfries & Galloway 
  

595 
  

610 
  

637 
  

634 
  

664 
  

775 
  

840 
  



Fife 
  

502 
  

513 
  

530 
  

534 
  

563 
  

645 
  

728 
  



Forth Valley 
  

579 
  

589 
  

617 
  

619 
  

648 
  

752 
  

761 
  



Grampian 
  

574 
  

594 
  

632 
  

631 
  

650 
  

748 
  

785 
  



Greater Glasgow 
  

839 
  

852 
  

904 
  

893 
  

916 
  

1,041 
  

978 
  



Highland 
  

631 
  

646 
  

675 
  

679 
  

711 
  

834 
  

848 
  



Lanarkshire 
  

508 
  

514 
  

541 
  

536 
  

556 
  

626 
  

705 
  



Lothian 
  

699 
  

707 
  

743 
  

739 
  

743 
  

837 
  

849 
  



Orkney 
  

502 
  

531 
  

540 
  

556 
  

588 
  

715 
  

881 
  



Shetland 
  

501 
  

542 
  

573 
  

581 
  

596 
  

744 
  

869 
  



Tayside 
  

749 
  

755 
  

793 
  

792 
  

818 
  

949 
  

963 
  



Western Isles 
  

578 
  

605 
  

622 
  

635 
  

661 
  

736 
  

1,070 
  



All Scotland 
  

637 
  

651 
  

684 
  

682 
  

703 
  

805 
  

836 
  



  Table 3: 1993-94 to 1999-2000

  


For year ending 31 March 
  



Health Board 
  

1994 
  

1995 
  

1996 
  

1997 
  

1998 
  

1999 
  

2000 
  






£/Pop 
  

£/Pop 
  

£/Pop 
  

£/Pop 
  

£/Pop 
  

£/Pop 
  

£/Pop 
  



Weighted Population figures 
  



Argyll & Clyde 
  

820 
  

869 
  

859 
  

856 
  

865 
  

880 
  

887 
  



Ayrshire/Arran 
  

790 
  

832 
  

854 
  

835 
  

861 
  

884 
  

887 
  



Borders 
  

786 
  

869 
  

879 
  

873 
  

874 
  

893 
  

894 
  



Dumfries & Galloway 
  

803 
  

875 
  

861 
  

864 
  

877 
  

896 
  

909 
  



Fife 
  

796 
  

848 
  

849 
  

842 
  

873 
  

876 
  

896 
  



Forth Valley 
  

832 
  

861 
  

889 
  

862 
  

887 
  

916 
  

934 
  



Grampian 
  

871 
  

901 
  

917 
  

892 
  

907 
  

927 
  

927 
  



Greater Glasgow 
  

922 
  

910 
  

930 
  

908 
  

911 
  

913 
  

950 
  



Highland 
  

838 
  

893 
  

922 
  

895 
  

907 
  

914 
  

904 
  



Lanarkshire 
  

806 
  

825 
  

846 
  

839 
  

864 
  

880 
  

901 
  



Lothian 
  

900 
  

920 
  

935 
  

900 
  

938 
  

946 
  

950 
  



Orkney 
  

874 
  

970 
  

978 
  

993 
  

993 
  

1,035 
  

1,094 
  



Shetland 
  

917 
  

1,026 
  

1,015 
  

936 
  

927 
  

963 
  

988 
  



Tayside 
  

921 
  

928 
  

932 
  

932 
  

938 
  

961 
  

955 
  



Western Isles 
  

930 
  

1,061 
  

1,031 
  

987 
  

970 
  

979 
  

961 
  



All Scotland 
  

860 
  

886 
  

900 
  

882 
  

918 
  

913 
  

925 
  



Population figures from The General Register 
  Office for Scotland 
  



Argyll & Clyde 
  

832 
  

878 
  

870 
  

891 
  

906 
  

925 
  

935 
  



Ayrshire/Arran 
  

779 
  

818 
  

841 
  

843 
  

873 
  

898 
  

903 
  



Borders 
  

847 
  

931 
  

932 
  

945 
  

950 
  

970 
  

970 
  



Dumfries & Galloway 
  

854 
  

923 
  

933 
  

946 
  

959 
  

979 
  

997 
  



Fife 
  

756 
  

796 
  

804 
  

811 
  

840 
  

843 
  

861 
  



Forth Valley 
  

801 
  

825 
  

848 
  

831 
  

843 
  

870 
  

881 
  



Grampian 
  

788 
  

806 
  

814 
  

820 
  

838 
  

861 
  

861 
  



Greater Glasgow 
  

990 
  

971 
  

985 
  

981 
  

990 
  

985 
  

1,032 
  



Highland 
  

860 
  

912 
  

940 
  

932 
  

954 
  

964 
  

953 
  



Lanarkshire 
  

729 
  

754 
  

781 
  

790 
  

818 
  

835 
  

852 
  



Lothian 
  

852 
  

872 
  

876 
  

847 
  

875 
  

881 
  

878 
  



Orkney 
  

956 
  

1,029 
  

1,033 
  

1,073 
  

1,095 
  

1,159 
  

1,222 
  



Shetland 
  

949 
  

1,022 
  

1,007 
  

991 
  

1,040 
  

1,085 
  

1,121 
  



Tayside 
  

940 
  

956 
  

962 
  

990 
  

995 
  

1,025 
  

1,023 
  



Western Isles 
  

1,199 
  

1,322 
  

1,359 
  

1,260 
  

1,329 
  

1,357 
  

1,350 
  



All Scotland 
  

850 
  

874 
  

885 
  

886 
  

923 
  

918 
  

931 
  



  The figures in the tables were derived using revenue expenditure figures taken from the annual publication Scottish Health Service Costs. The figures used for years 1984-85, 1985-86, 1992-93, 1994-95 and 1997-98 were amended following publication.

  The GDP deflators were applied to the results in order to present these figures in real terms.

  Health boards receive allocations of funding on a cash basis and report expenditure using the accruals accounting concept. This can lead to the reporting of surpluses and deficits by boards where expenditure is less than, or more than, the cash funding for that year.

  The basis for reporting expenditure by health boards changed in 1992-93. Prior to then, boards’ expenditure reflected the running costs of all hospitals within the board area, and would include expenditure on the population of other health boards. From 1992-93 boards expenditure reflected their population only, irrespective of where patient treatment was delivered.

  A time series for 1979-2000 constructed from the data in the tables presented is therefore inconsistent and cannot be used to draw conclusions about change across the whole of this period.

Health and Safety

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidelines it issues on the operation of sun tanning parlours.

Malcolm Chisholm: None. The Health and Safety Executive has issued guidelines in the past and is currently considering an update.

Health and Safety

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how the operation of sun tanning parlours is regulated.

Malcolm Chisholm: They are subject to the requirements of health and safety legislation.

Historic Scotland

Mr Murray Tosh (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether all applications for scheduled monument consent are determined by Historic Scotland or whether it is open to Scottish ministers to take decisions; whether decisions on scheduled monument applications referred to a public inquiry are delegated to its Inquiry Reporters Unit or can be taken personally by Scottish ministers and whether Scottish Ministers have taken any such decisions personally since acquiring their powers and to provide details.

Mr Sam Galbraith: The power to determine applications for scheduled monument consent rests with Scottish ministers (previously the Secretary of State) by virtue of section 2 of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. In practice Historic Scotland, which is an executive agency of the Scottish Executive, issues provisional decisions on all such applications, on behalf of Scottish Ministers, which, if accepted by the applicant, become the final decision.

  Following issue of the provisional decision, an applicant can request that the application be examined through public local enquiry. Decisions on applications which have been the subject of a public local inquiry are taken by Scottish ministers and are not delegated to the Scottish Executive Inquiry Reporters Unit. The Inquiry Reporters Unit is responsible only for making the arrangements for the inquiry. Since 1 July 1999, no scheduled monument consent applications have been the subject of a public local inquiry.

Hospital Waiting Lists

Margaret Smith (Edinburgh West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients are currently awaiting admission to hospital for (i) child health treatment, (ii) cancer treatment, (iii) cardio-thoracic treatment, (iv) elderly treatment, (v) ENT/OMF treatment, (vi) genetics, (vii) treatment, (viii) general medical treatment, (ix) general surgery and urology, (x) neurosurgery and neurology, (xi) obstetrics and gynaecology, (xii) opthalmology, (xiii) orthopaedics, (xiv) radiology, (xv) nutrition and dietetics and (xvi) physiotherapy, broken down by health board.

Susan Deacon: The number of patients awaiting admission to hospital on 30 September 2000 for in-patient and day case treatment in the specialties of paediatrics, cardiothoracic surgery and cardiology, care of the elderly, ENT/oral surgery, general surgery/urology, neurosurgery/neurology, clinical oncology, general medicine, gynaecology, ophthalmology, orthopaedics, diagnostic radiology and all other specialties, by health board area of residence, is provided in the table.

  Information on the number of patients awaiting admission to hospital for physiotherapy, nutrition and dietetics and genetic treatment is not held centrally.

  NHSScotland: Number Of Patients1 Waiting For Admission To Hospital For Inpatient And Day Case Treatment On 30 September 2000, By Specialty And By Health Board Of Residence.

  


Health Board Area 
  

Paediatrics (Child Health) 
  

Cardiothoracic 
  

Care Of The Elderly 
  


 

Surgical 
  

Medical 
  

Dentistry 
  

Surgery
(Total) 
  

Cardiology 
  

Geriatric Medicine 
  

Psychiatry of Old Age 
  



Argyll and Clyde 
  

130 
  

8 
  

6 
  

60 
  

138 
  

5 
  

1 
  



Ayrshire and Arran 
  

23 
  

11 
  

2 
  

95 
  

197 
  

0 
  

0 
  



Borders 
  

41 
  

0 
  

0 
  

17 
  

15 
  

0 
  

0 
  



Dumfries & Galloway 
  

18 
  

2 
  

0 
  

32 
  

66 
  

0 
  

0 
  



Fife 
  

109 
  

5 
  

4 
  

71 
  

63 
  

14 
  

1 
  



Forth Valley 
  

26 
  

3 
  

2 
  

61 
  

65 
  

1 
  

0 
  



Grampian 
  

86 
  

19 
  

0 
  

172 
  

205 
  

12 
  

0 
  



Greater Glasgow 
  

450 
  

28 
  

36 
  

157 
  

318 
  

0 
  

0 
  



Highland 
  

5 
  

20 
  

1 
  

51 
  

24 
  

9 
  

0 
  



Lanarkshire 
  

189 
  

8 
  

11 
  

203 
  

364 
  

0 
  

12 
  



Lothian 
  

394 
  

24 
  

30 
  

150 
  

211 
  

7 
  

0 
  



Orkney 
  

2 
  

0 
  

0 
  

4 
  

6 
  

0 
  

0 
  



Shetland 
  

1 
  

2 
  

0 
  

6 
  

3 
  

0 
  

0 
  



Tayside 
  

113 
  

2 
  

0 
  

79 
  

110 
  

24 
  

0 
  



Western Isles 
  

0 
  

3 
  

0 
  

4 
  

15 
  

0 
  

0 
  



Others 
  

1 
  

0 
  

0 
  

3 
  

1 
  

0 
  

0 
  



Scotland 
  

1,588 
  

135 
  

92 
  

1,165 
  

1,801 
  

72 
  

14 
  



  


Health Board Area 
  

ENT/Oral Surgery 
  

General Surgery/ Urology 
  

Neurosurgery/Neurology 
  

Clinical Oncology
(Cancer2) 
  






ENT 
  

Oral Surgery 
  

General Surgery 
  

Urology 
  

Neurosurgery 
  

Neurology 
  

Clinical Oncology 
  



Argyll and Clyde 
  

510 
  

81 
  

2,407 
  

416 
  

21 
  

31 
  

0 
  



Ayrshire and Arran 
  

313 
  

249 
  

2,346 
  

1,193 
  

8 
  

28 
  

0 
  



Borders 
  

150 
  

57 
  

370 
  

38 
  

5 
  

2 
  

6 
  



Dumfries & Galloway 
  

213 
  

96 
  

727 
  

144 
  

7 
  

2 
  

9 
  



Fife 
  

723 
  

380 
  

1,966 
  

879 
  

34 
  

13 
  

8 
  



Forth Valley 
  

221 
  

182 
  

1,866 
  

296 
  

10 
  

3 
  

0 
  



Grampian 
  

829 
  

289 
  

2,575 
  

556 
  

69 
  

71 
  

14 
  



Greater Glasgow 
  

1,581 
  

207 
  

2,856 
  

1,538 
  

37 
  

88 
  

0 
  



Highland 
  

144 
  

46 
  

855 
  

285 
  

22 
  

32 
  

5 
  



Lanarkshire 
  

616 
  

156 
  

2,501 
  

828 
  

25 
  

47 
  

0 
  



Lothian 
  

886 
  

135 
  

1,864 
  

1,080 
  

48 
  

41 
  

8 
  



Orkney 
  

34 
  

9 
  

60 
  

6 
  

3 
  

2 
  

1 
  



Shetland 
  

39 
  

13 
  

68 
  

6 
  

1 
  

4 
  

1 
  



Tayside 
  

522 
  

79 
  

2,893 
  

1,045 
  

97 
  

43 
  

0 
  



Western Isles 
  

26 
  

1 
  

186 
  

13 
  

2 
  

5 
  

0 
  



Others 
  

5 
  

8 
  

29 
  

2 
  

0 
  

1 
  

0 
  



Scotland 
  

6,812 
  

1,988 
  

23,569 
  

8,325 
  

389 
  

413 
  

52 
  



  


Health Board Area 
  

General Medicine 
  

Gynaecology 
  

Ophthalmology 
  

Orthopaedics 
  

Diagnostic Radiology 
  

All
Other
Specialties 
  



Argyll and Clyde 
  

575 
  

420 
  

821 
  

1,119 
  

1 
  

635 
  



Ayrshire & Arran 
  

515 
  

220 
  

909 
  

1,132 
  

0 
  

369 
  



Borders 
  

154 
  

78 
  

146 
  

322 
  

0 
  

67 
  



Dumfries & Galloway 
  

22 
  

230 
  

386 
  

366 
  

0 
  

52 
  



Fife 
  

38 
  

501 
  

594 
  

1,171 
  

0 
  

968 
  



Forth Valley 
  

328 
  

259 
  

476 
  

1,144 
  

1 
  

196 
  



Grampian 
  

181 
  

559 
  

1125 
  

913 
  

0 
  

1,410 
  



Greater Glasgow 
  

29 
  

686 
  

1619 
  

2,790 
  

0 
  

1,264 
  



Highland 
  

193 
  

168 
  

390 
  

588 
  

0 
  

194 
  



Lanarkshire 
  

488 
  

592 
  

1140 
  

1,291 
  

0 
  

694 
  



Lothian 
  

4 
  

520 
  

1287 
  

1,851 
  

0 
  

1,535 
  



Orkney 
  

6 
  

22 
  

43 
  

46 
  

0 
  

16 
  



Shetland 
  

2 
  

31 
  

20 
  

33 
  

0 
  

14 
  



Tayside 
  

411 
  

335 
  

690 
  

1,086 
  

0 
  

1,391 
  



Western Isles 
  

11 
  

42 
  

101 
  

30 
  

0 
  

18 
  



Others 
  

3 
  

4 
  

7 
  

26 
  

0 
  

11 
  



Scotland 
  

2,960 
  

4,667 
  

9,754 
  

13,908 
  

2 
  

8,834 
  



  Notes:

  1. Patients on the in-patient/day case waiting list (including patients with a guarantee exception code).

  2. It is not possible to identify all patients waiting for cancer treatment as some patients will be included on waiting lists of other specialties e.g. General Surgery/Urology. Figures refer to Clinical Oncology (Radiotherapy) in-patient/day case treatment only. Radiotherapy treatment is primarily carried out in an out-patient setting.

Hospitals

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated annual cost to the NHSiS is of hospital-acquired infections.

Susan Deacon: No detailed estimates are available of the costs of hospital-acquired infection (HAI) to the NHS in Scotland. A broad estimate of the incidence and impact of HAI, prepared by the Scottish Office Health Department in 1999 as part of a project on HAI surveillance, indicated that a central estimate of the total annual cost would be approximately £21.6 million. This work also suggested that the cost of avoidable HAIs was approximately £3.9 million. These costs are subject to substantial uncertainty. They do not include the cost of treating HAI manifesting in the community, or costs incurred outside the NHS.

  More information about the incidence and costs of HAI is expected to become available from the planned national surveillance system, once it is introduced.

Housing

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish (a) the procedural guidelines for local authorities undertaking stock transfers and (b) the code of practice on tenant participation in stock transfers.

Jackie Baillie: The document Guidance for Local Authorities on Housing Transfer to Community Ownership was published on 28 August and copies are available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre. The code of practice on tenant participation in stock transfers was published on 25 January 2001.

Housing

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what its definition of "successful balanced communities" is as referred to in paragraph 2 of the Policy Memorandum to the Housing (Scotland) Bill.

Jackie Baillie: In that particular context, neighbourhoods with a mix of good-quality affordable housing options, in which local people want to live, work and spend their leisure time.

Local Government Finance

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will change the formula used for the funding of social work and education in Glasgow as they have done for health in recognition that concentrations of deprivation make the delivery of these services more expensive.

Peter Peacock: The local government grant distribution formula already takes account of the impact of deprivation on the costs of service delivery, and 13 assessments within the formula - mainly those for social work and education - include deprivation adjustments. In addition, a number of important social work assessments are influenced by health indicators which reflect deprivation. The Scottish Executive and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities together carried out a thorough review of the account taken of deprivation in the local government finance system this year. As a result we have redistributed an additional £12 million to help councils tackle the effects of deprivation in schools. We have also made available, through the Better Neighbourhoods Services Fund, an additional £90 million to help improve services within the most deprived neighbourhoods.

  The National Review of Resource Allocation for NHS in Scotland (the Arbuthnott Review) has only recently resulted in an allocation of resources through a needs-based approach. For 2000-01, Aggregate External Finance (AEF) per head for Glasgow City Council is 22.4% higher than the all Scotland average, while grant per head for Greater Glasgow Health Board is 8.6% above average.

Ministerial Correspondence

Mr Alex Salmond (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when the Minister for Transport and the Environment will reply to my letter of 3 October 2000 regarding the A98.

Sarah Boyack: I wrote to Mr Salmond on 8 January 2001.

NHS Services

Alex Johnstone (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how much the task force to oversee the management of NHS services in Tayside cost.

Susan Deacon: The final cost for the Tayside Task Force over the nine and a half month period was approximately £85,000.

NHS Staff

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will set up a national clinical assessment authority in order to detect incompetent or dangerous health professionals in the NHSiS.

Susan Deacon: Responsibility for ensuring that health professionals are fit to practise rests both with their employer and with their regulatory body.

  However, in Scotland we are also concerned about the issues which the National Clinical Assessment Authority (NCAA) in England is being established to address in respect of doctors and dentists. Although we have no plans to set up a NCAA, we have a number of mechanisms in place or in preparation which serve the same purposes as this new English body, without requiring the establishment of a new body.

  The report Suspensions - A New Perspective, which was published in 1999, dealt with issues of performance in career grade medical and dental staff and proposed the approach which we have decided to adopt in Scotland. Concerns about performance should be tackled by constructive intervention at an early stage, with specific advice and support from External Clinical Advisory Teams from the Royal Colleges in Scotland and the Scottish Expert Reference Group.

  Two groups are currently examining how to apply the principles of this approach to general practitioners and to doctors and dentists in training.

NHS Staff

George Lyon (Argyll and Bute) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it plans to implement to address any shortfall in the number of (a) nurses and (b) doctors per 100 beds in NHS hospitals in the Argyll and Clyde Health Board area.

Susan Deacon: It is a matter for health boards and Trusts to assess and provide for local needs and to determine the staffing levels required for effective service delivery. National recommendations on staffing levels would cut across these responsibilities and would undermine boards’ and Trusts’ ability to provide a modern, flexible service matched to local needs.

NHS Trusts

Margaret Smith (Edinburgh West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) total budget and (b) amount of any budget deficit was for each NHS Trust in each year since 1995, broken down by Trust.

Susan Deacon: The number of NHS Trusts reduced from 47 to 28 after reconfiguration on 1 April 1999. Table 1 gives the information post reconfiguration, table 2 for the period prior to 1 April 1999.

  Table 1: 1999-2000

  


Trust 
  

1999-2000 
  



Total Income
(£000) 
  

Surplus/
(Deficit)
(£000) 
  



Argyll and Clyde Acute Hospitals NHS Trust 
  

139,227 
  

(3,521) 
  



Renfrewshire and Inverclyde Primary Care NHS Trust 
  

149,159 
  

(1,518) 
  



Lomond and Argyll Primary Care NHS Trust 
  

81,653 
  

188 
  



Ayrshire and Arran Acute Hospitals Trust 
  

142,525 
  

588 
  



Ayrshire and Arran Primary Care NHS Trust 
  

172,474 
  

373 
  



Borders General Hospital NHS Trust 
  

38,813 
  

185 
  



Borders Primary Care NHS Trust 
  

58,146 
  

44 
  



Dumfries and Galloway Acute and Maternity Hospitals NHS 
  Trust 
  

50,292 
  

473 
  



Dumfries and Galloway Primary Care NHS Trust 
  

89,088 
  

155 
  



Fife Acute Hospitals NHS Trust 
  

100,815 
  

553 
  



Fife Primary Care NHS Trust 
  

171,457 
  

656 
  



Forth Valley Acute Hospitals NHS Trust 
  

96,324 
  

459 
  



Forth Valley Primary Care NHS Trust 
  

141,327 
  

27 
  



Grampian Primary Care NHS Trust 
  

257,337 
  

733 
  



Grampian University Hospitals NHS Trust 
  

211,665 
  

(2,553) 
  



Greater Glasgow Primary Care NHS Trust 
  

410,850 
  

567 
  



North Glasgow University Hospitals NHS Trust 
  

375,969 
  

(8,706) 
  



South Glasgow University Hospitals NHS Trust 
  

168,875 
  

(2,263) 
  



The Yorkhill NHS Trust 
  

71,801 
  

96 
  



Highland Acute Hospitals NHS Trust 
  

77,459 
  

(808) 
  



Highland Primary Care NHS Trust 
  

119,162 
  

79 
  



Lanarkshire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust 
  

182,255 
  

407 
  



Lanarkshire Primary Care NHS Trust 
  

253,310 
  

686 
  



Lothian Primary Care NHS Trust 
  

297,040 
  

1,167 
  



Lothian University Hospitals NHS Trust 
  

319,418 
  

30 
  



West Lothian Healthcare NHS Trust 
  

129,312 
  

(543) 
  



Tayside Primary Care NHS Trust 
  

229,128 
  

743 
  



Tayside University Hospitals NHS Trust 
  

201,227 
  

(10,146) 
  



Total 
  

4,736,108 
  

(21,849) 
  



  Table 2: 1995-96 to 1998-99

  





1998-99 
  

1997-98 
  

1996-97 
  

1995-96 
  






(£000) 
  



NHS Trust 
  

Total Income 
  

Surplus/ (Deficit) 
  

Total Income 
  

Surplus/ (Deficit) 
  

Total Income 
  

Surplus/
(Deficit) 
  

Total Income 
  

Surplus/ (Deficit) 
  



Aberdeen Royal Hospitals 
  

148,847 
  

14 
  

140,830 
  

327 
  

136,198 
  

469 
  

130,607 
  

(240) 
  



Angus 
  

45,324 
  

28 
  

43,170 
  

384 
  

42,618 
  

349 
  

41,162 
  

151 
  



Argyll & Bute 
  

34,179 
  

(1,210) 
  

33,158 
  

373 
  

31,595 
  

(197) 
  

30,642 
  

732 
  



Ayrshire & Arran Community Healthcare 
  

68,123 
  

(461) 
  

64,459 
  

213 
  

62,179 
  

186 
  

61,465 
  

81 
  



Borders Community Health Services 
  

28,603 
  

144 
  

27,417 
  

113 
  

26,942 
  

33 
  

25,998 
  

387 
  



Borders General Hospital 
  

37,929 
  

69 
  

34,945 
  

(538) 
  

33,035 
  

90 
  

30,833 
  

610 
  



Caithness and Sutherland 
  

18,070 
  

(90) 
  

17,716 
  

7 
  

17,292 
  

49 
  

16,223 
  

413 
  



Central Scotland Healthcare 
  

68,626 
  

(70) 
  

67,868 
  

79 
  

70,799 
  

233 
  

73,327 
  

(726) 
  



Dumfries & Galloway Acute & Maternity Hospitals 
  

49,744 
  

196 
  

46,653 
  

207 
  

44,566 
  

411 
  

42,224 
  

746 
  



Dumfries & Galloway Community Health 
  

43,481 
  

20 
  

43,252 
  

101 
  

42,260 
  

55 
  

42,096 
  

327 
  



Dundee Healthcare 
  

63,220 
  

(710) 
  

60,779 
  

(295) 
  

61,039 
  

138 
  

59,002 
  

276 
  



Dundee Teaching Hospitals 
  

147,996 
  

(1,863) 
  

138,478 
  

(2,497) 
  

128,675 
  

1,404 
  

119,624 
  

3,115 
  



East & Midlothian 
  

43,341 
  

692 
  

56,456 
  

183 
  

54,672 
  

164 
  

53,699 
  

267 
  



Edinburgh Healthcare 
  

95,074 
  

(3,761) 
  

90,045 
  

708 
  

90,228 
  

876 
  

86,256 
  

516 
  



Edinburgh Sick Children’s 
  

34,164 
  

299 
  

31,809 
  

61 
  

29,529 
  

79 
  

28,519 
  

87 
  



Falkirk & District Royal Infirmary 
  

42,064 
  

18 
  

39,795 
  

24 
  

38,878 
  

(808) 
  

37,528 
  

241 
  



Fife Healthcare 
  

68,114 
  

1,002 
  

66,464 
  

2,158 
  

74,161 
  

(2,369) 
  

81,331 
  

(1,085) 
  



Glasgow Dental Hospital and School 
  

11,442 
  

9 
  

10,877 
  

55 
  

10,438 
  

48 
  

10,341 
  

204 
  



Glasgow Royal Infirmary University 
  

145,838 
  

(1,147) 
  

138,926 
  

293 
  

135,564 
  

610 
  

126,883 
  

611 
  



Grampian Healthcare 
  

143,375 
  

109 
  

139,638 
  

2,530 
  

136,730 
  

(534) 
  

132,267 
  

176 
  



Greater Glasgow Community & Mental Health Services 
  

156,092 
  

319 
  

152,044 
  

(8,782) 
  

152,006 
  

718 
  

149,681 
  

(1,169) 
  



Hairmyres & Stonehouse Hospitals 
  

56,765 
  

(552) 
  

54,038 
  

5,195 
  

51,470 
  

57 
  

51,404 
  

0 
  



Highland Communities 
  

52,907 
  

(13,641) 
  

52,122 
  

(20) 
  

48,364 
  

209 
  

51,625 
  

259 
  



Inverclyde Royal 
  

44,411 
  

(3) 
  

41,760 
  

111 
  

41,066 
  

531 
  

39,603 
  

790 
  



Kirkcaldy Acute Hospitals 
  

54,678 
  

86 
  

52,191 
  

186 
  

50,403 
  

106 
  

47,755 
  

1,013 
  



Lanarkshire Healthcare 
  

100,365 
  

(1,780) 
  

97,041 
  

996 
  

95,047 
  

580 
  

88,509 
  

1,373 
  



Law Hospital 
  

62,039 
  

(937) 
  

49,925 
  

2,002 
  

48,902 
  

214 
  

46,805 
  

307 
  



Lomond Healthcare 
  

37,337 
  

69 
  

35,704 
  

78 
  

34,317 
  

98 
  

33,000 
  

520 
  



Monklands & Bellshill Hospitals 
  

57,123 
  

784 
  

61,747 
  

220 
  

58,732 
  

497 
  

56,582 
  

989 
  



Moray Health Services 
  

37,620 
  

(128) 
  

36,065 
  

(89) 
  

34,229 
  

198 
  

29,709 
  

(83) 
  



North Ayrshire & Arran 
  

86,890 
  

9 
  

81,110 
  

97 
  

80,127 
  

1,350 
  

77,296 
  

1,286 
  



Perth & Kinross Healthcare 
  

74,713 
  

2 
  

71,070 
  

133 
  

60,717 
  

432 
  

58,017 
  

247 
  



Queen Margaret Hospital 
  

46,680 
  

(37) 
  

43,959 
  

49 
  

42,585 
  

372 
  

39,187 
  

361 
  



Raigmore Hospital 
  

63,855 
  

(135) 
  

60,447 
  

171 
  

56,654 
  

87 
  

54,356 
  

576 
  



Renfrewshire Healthcare 
  

74,770 
  

(273) 
  

72,471 
  

82 
  

71,238 
  

170 
  

68,875 
  

402 
  



Royal Alexandra Hospital 
  

57,372 
  

262 
  

53,796 
  

295 
  

51,653 
  

601 
  

49,166 
  

(458) 
  



Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh 
  

167,748 
  

(2,394) 
  

167,174 
  

194 
  

157,783 
  

209 
  

157,147 
  

288 
  



Scottish Ambulance Service 
  

88,327 
  

(876) 
  

83,237 
  

147 
  

78,902 
  

291 
  

74,283 
  

826 
  



South Ayrshire Hospitals 
  

55,582 
  

207 
  

52,624 
  

101 
  

50,278 
  

122 
  

48,269 
  

189 
  



Southern General Hospital 
  

99,341 
  

217 
  

93,303 
  

284 
  

92,339 
  

(368) 
  

88,385 
  

993 
  



Stirling Royal Infirmary 
  

49,556 
  

(3) 
  

46,434 
  

5 
  

44,881 
  

52 
  

42,238 
  

216 
  



Stobhill 
  

61,749 
  

(3,144) 
  

62,222 
  

60 
  

62,018 
  

201 
  

67,858 
  

346 
  



Victoria Infirmary 
  

64,367 
  

937 
  

64,979 
  

364 
  

62,270 
  

(1,763) 
  

64,610 
  

839 
  



West Glasgow Hospitals University 
  

154,877 
  

718 
  

150,417 
  

(430) 
  

144,961 
  

(4,233) 
  

130,800 
  

1,194 
  



West Lothian 
  

86,407 
  

(686) 
  

78,800 
  

393 
  

78,175 
  

206 
  

76,766 
  

521 
  



Western General Hospitals 
  

100,321 
  

(106) 
  

87,722 
  

(901) 
  

82,871 
  

163 
  

79,031 
  

154 
  



Yorkhill 
  

69,031 
  

(408) 
  

65,894 
  

(785) 
  

63,005 
  

507 
  

58,466 
  

722 
  



TOTAL 
  

3,398,477 
  

(28,205) 
  

3,261,031 
  

4,642 
  

3,162,391 
  

2,893 
  

3,059,450 
  

19,590 
  



  Trust reported income has been used as an equivalent for the "Budget".

  Some of the deficits arose from technical accounting adjustments relating to the valuation and disposal of NHS property.

Nursery Education

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many two and a half hour sessions of nursery provision are made available to three-year-olds in each local authority area, specifying in each case what flexibility exists in the number of sessions per week which may be taken up compared to the number of sessions available and whether place-sharing is allowed.

Nicol Stephen: Our aim is to have a place available, offering five sessions of around two and a half hours of pre-school education per week, for all eligible children, whose parents wish it, by the end of school year 2002. Local authorities are responsible for developing places and for admissions. The Executive’s policy is to offer flexibility. Whilst provision is expanding to meet demand, some local authorities may offer fewer than five sessions a week to three-year-old children. In most areas offering places with five sessions a week, parents are free to take up fewer sessions, if that better meets their needs and those of the child.

  Information on local authority admissions policies is not collected centrally. The number of grant funded places for three-year-old children provided in each local authority by number of sessions per week is shown in the table.

  Number of Three-Year-Old Children in Grant Funded Pre-school Education – September 2000

  


Local Authority 
  

Number of 3-Year-Old Children Receiving 
  a Grant Funded Place 
  

Number Receiving 5 Sessions per week 
  

Number Receiving 4 Sessions per week 
  

Number Receiving 3 Sessions per week 
  

Number Receiving 2 Sessions per week 
  

Number Receiving 1 Session per week 
  



Aberdeen City 
  

990 
  

844 
  

45 
  

101 
  

0 
  

0 
  



Aberdeenshire 
  

1,202 
  

496 
  

185 
  

462 
  

59 
  

0 
  



Angus 
  

502 
  

360 
  

28 
  

72 
  

39 
  

3 
  



Argyll and Bute 
  

446 
  

4 
  

369 
  

42 
  

29 
  

2 
  



Clackmannanshire 
  

288 
  

237 
  

12 
  

25 
  

14 
  

0 
  



Dumfries & Galloway 
  

746 
  

0 
  

0 
  

675 
  

68 
  

3 
  



Dundee City 
  

845 
  

796 
  

30 
  

13 
  

5 
  

1 
  



East Ayrshire 
  

578 
  

452 
  

21 
  

63 
  

41 
  

1 
  



East Dunbartonshire 
  

624 
  

312 
  

36 
  

131 
  

128 
  

17 
  



East Lothian 
  

437 
  

383 
  

25 
  

19 
  

7 
  

3 
  



East Renfrewshire 
  

595 
  

476 
  

53 
  

56 
  

9 
  

1 
  



City of Edinburgh 
  

2,218 
  

1,995 
  

92 
  

87 
  

41 
  

3 
  



Falkirk 
  

720 
  

604 
  

46 
  

35 
  

27 
  

8 
  



Fife 
  

1,654 
  

1,383 
  

38 
  

152 
  

70 
  

11 
  



City of Glasgow 
  

3,160 
  

2,953 
  

53 
  

70 
  

29 
  

55 
  



Highland 
  

997 
  

469 
  

99 
  

344 
  

84 
  

1 
  



Inverclyde 
  

436 
  

413 
  

9 
  

11 
  

3 
  

0 
  



Midlothian 
  

403 
  

379 
  

13 
  

11 
  

0 
  

0 
  



Moray 
  

540 
  

463 
  

58 
  

15 
  

4 
  

0 
  



North Ayrshire 
  

688 
  

533 
  

25 
  

114 
  

15 
  

1 
  



North Lanarkshire 
  

1,762 
  

991 
  

46 
  

473 
  

250 
  

2 
  



Orkney Islands 
  

113 
  

23 
  

0 
  

90 
  

0 
  

0 
  



Perth and Kinross 
  

526 
  

524 
  

0 
  

1 
  

1 
  

0 
  



Renfrewshire 
  

977 
  

936 
  

16 
  

19 
  

6 
  

0 
  



Scottish Borders 
  

578 
  

240 
  

34 
  

186 
  

117 
  

1 
  



Shetland Islands 
  

118 
  

61 
  

11 
  

39 
  

5 
  

2 
  



South Ayrshire 
  

497 
  

346 
  

32 
  

86 
  

33 
  

0 
  



South Lanarkshire 
  

1,343 
  

1,155 
  

52 
  

107 
  

28 
  

1 
  



Stirling 
  

467 
  

352 
  

13 
  

49 
  

48 
  

5 
  



West Dunbartonshire 
  

716 
  

701 
  

0 
  

1 
  

14 
  

0 
  



West Lothian 
  

771 
  

751 
  

6 
  

10 
  

4 
  

0 
  



Western Isles 
  

111 
  

77 
  

22 
  

4 
  

7 
  

1 
  



Total 
  

26,048 
  

19,709 
  

1,469 
  

3,563 
  

1,185 
  

122

Nursing

Margaret Smith (Edinburgh West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what provision the NHSiS makes for nurses with young families.

Susan Deacon: Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change requires all NHS employers to meet or exceed best practice guidance on family-friendly policies as part of the new Staff Governance Standard. To help employers, I launched guidance on family-friendly policies on 26 January 2001. These policies include guidance on flexible working, child care, breastfeeding and career breaks. The guidance applies to all NHS Scotland staff and has been developed through the Scottish Partnership Forum, which represents all NHS Scotland staff group.

Nursing

George Lyon (Argyll and Bute) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many whole-time equivalent nurses are employed by the NHS in each health board area.

Susan Deacon: The latest information available centrally on how many whole-time equivalent nurses employed in the NHSScotland is shown in the table.

  


Nurses and Midwifery staff employed by NHSScotland by Health 
  Board 
Whole-Time Equivalent as at 30 September 1999 
  






Qualified Nurses 
  

Unqualified Nurses 
  

Total 
  



Scotland 
  

35,596.5 
  

15,756.5 
  

51,353.0 
  



Argyll and Clyde 
  

2,637.5 
  

1,454.2 
  

4,091.7 
  



Ayrshire and Arran 
  

2,216.3 
  

1,053.4 
  

3,269.7 
  



Borders 
  

741.4 
  

340.4 
  

1,081.8 
  



Dumfries and Galloway 
  

1,131.8 
  

531.2 
  

1,663.0 
  



Fife 
  

2,184.9 
  

764.0 
  

2,948.9 
  



Forth Valley 
  

1,776.5 
  

1,040.5 
  

2,817.0 
  



Grampian 
  

3,495.1 
  

1,445.8 
  

4,940.9 
  



Greater Glasgow 
  

7,087.0 
  

3,344.2 
  

10,431.2 
  



Highland 
  

1,522.8 
  

541.7 
  

2,064.5 
  



Lanarkshire 
  

3,222.7 
  

1,368.3 
  

4,591.0 
  



Lothian 
  

5,203.0 
  

2,059.6 
  

7,262.6 
  



Orkney 
  

141.9 
  

43.4 
  

185.3 
  



Shetland 
  

153.9 
  

43.2 
  

197.1 
  



Tayside 
  

3,543.9 
  

1,391.0 
  

4,934.9 
  



Western Isles 
  

246.7 
  

97.0 
  

343.7 
  



  Source: National Manpower Statistics, ISD Scotland.

Nursing

George Lyon (Argyll and Bute) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many nurses left employment in the NHS in the Argyll and Clyde Health Board area in each of the last three years; what the reasons were for such departures, and what the equivalent figure was for every other health board area in each of these years.

Susan Deacon: The latest information available centrally is shown in the table. There is no information held centrally on reasons for leaving.

  


Qualified nursing and midwifery staff in the NHSScotland 
  by Health Boards 1, 2 – Leavers 
  






1996-97 
  

1997-98 
  

(Headcount)
1998-99 
  



Argyll and Clyde 
  

282 
  

236 
  

236 
  



Ayrshire and Arran 
  

163 
  

138 
  

171 
  



Borders 
  

73 
  

58 
  

68 
  



Dumfries and Galloway 
  

98 
  

84 
  

95 
  



Fife 
  

343 
  

174 
  

172 
  



Forth Valley 
  

199 
  

179 
  

157 
  



Grampian 
  

476 
  

501 
  

385 
  



Greater Glasgow 
  

590 
  

733 
  

670 
  



Highland 
  

154 
  

138 
  

138 
  



Lanarkshire 
  

275 
  

230 
  

226 
  



Lothian 
  

657 
  

689 
  

585 
  



Orkney 
  

20 
  

15 
  

13 
  



Shetland 
  

20 
  

17 
  

22 
  



Tayside 
  

300 
  

388 
  

475 
  



Western Isles 
  

19 
  

22 
  

16 
  



  Source: National Manpower Statistics from payroll, ISD Scotland.

  Notes:

  1. The number of "net" leavers is produced using the annual censuses at 30 September which are extracted from the payroll. Net movements of staff are deducted by tracking individuals over successive censuses. For example, the column labelled "1997-98" shows the number of individuals who were employed at September 1997 but were not employed at 30 September 1998; it also includes the number that move health boards. A small number of staff who leave will be missed by this analysis because they join and leave between successive censuses.

  2. Each census includes nurses, midwives, health visitors who were in substantive posts and directly employed by the NHSScotland. Bank and agency nurses, who work as and when required, and nurses employed by GP practices are excluded. Some staff who are counted as "leavers" may still be employed in the same board, say as a bank nurse or indirectly as an agency or GP practice nurse, at the time of the second census. Equally some "leavers may still be employed as nurses or midwives outside the NHS. The exact numbers of staff falling into each of these categories are unknown.

Organ Retention

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish details of any sales of body parts by hospitals and whether any such sales were part of an agreement relating to the funding of research.

Susan Deacon: There is no evidence in Scotland of sales of body parts by hospitals. In particular, there is no evidence of children’s thymus glands being sold to pharmaceutical companies, as happened at Alder Hey.

Pest Control

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-11701 by Rhona Brankin on 8 January 2001, whether it will detail the enquiries that have been made as to whether dogs are used underground for pest control purposes on land under its ownership or control and whether it will list (a) all estates under its ownership or control and (b) the estates in respect of which enquiries have been made.

Rhona Brankin: In order to answer the previous question, enquiries were made of the Headquarters of The Forestry Commission, Historic Scotland and the Scottish Agricultural Science Agency along with the Estate Management section of the Scottish Executive itself. The Agricultural Staff of the Scottish Executive Rural Affairs Department who are responsible for managing ministers’ land settlement estates (99% of which is tenanted croft land) were also consulted. These bodies account for some 800,000 hectares of land owned or controlled by the Scottish Executive. No individual enquiries were made of any specific estate or croft.

Police

Euan Robson (Roxburgh and Berwickshire) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive when public satisfaction with police services was last surveyed, what the results were and what plans it has to conduct any future surveys.

Mr Jim Wallace: The results of the year 2000 Scottish Crime Survey were published recently by the Scottish Executive’s Central Research Unit. A representative sample of the Scottish public were interviewed about a range of crime-related topics including their attitudes to the police. 72% of respondents said that the police in their area did a "very good" or a "fairly good" job. Around three quarters (72%) of those who reported incidents to the police in 1999 said they were "very" or "fairly" satisfied with the way the police handled the matter.

  The Scottish Crime Survey is currently run every four years, with the next scheduled to take place in 2004.

  Individual police forces also conduct surveys on a regular basis and publish the results in the Chief Constable’s annual report.

Prison Service

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners there are with mental health problems expressed as a percentage of each prison’s population for the last year for which figures are available.

Mr Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  For the reasons set out in the answer to question S1W-11880, this information is not recorded.

Rail Services

Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make representations to ScotRail and Railtrack to take immediate action to restore railway services to normal levels.

Sarah Boyack: I met senior executives of Scotland’s rail industry on 15 January and 12 February and stressed that every effort should be made to restore normal railway services as soon as possible.

Residential Care

Alex Fergusson (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has for improving the training available to those working in rural children’s homes.

Nicol Stephen: The Scottish Institute for Residential Child Care, launched last year, is receiving grant of £4 million over a three-year period to offer education and training for staff working in a residential child care setting. This will include outreach work in rural and other more dispersed areas. The current Regulation of Care (Scotland) Bill provides for a new Scottish Social Services Council which will regulate all staff working in child care establishments. This will be undertaken by ensuring that staff adhere to a code of conduct and by their registration through holding agreed qualifications. The council will also regulate professional education and training.

Scottish Executive Procurement

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has a contract with Banner Business Supplies and, if so, how long the contract is for; what services are provided to it by them, and what criteria were used to select Banner Business Supplies.

Angus MacKay: The Scottish Executive has a contract with Banner Business Supplies which commenced on 1 August 1999 for a period of three years plus an option of two one-year extensions, subject to performance.

  Banner Business Supplies provides office stationery products and desktop accessories to Scottish Executive offices across the country. Following open competition and detailed evaluation of nine tenders, Banner was selected on the basis of value for money and its delivery capability.

Scottish Executive Procurement

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has a contract with Security Printing and Systems and, if so, how long the contract is for; what services are provided to it by them, and what criteria were used to select Security Printing and Systems.

Angus MacKay: The Scottish Executive does not have a contract with Security Printing and Systems.

Scottish Executive Procurement

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has a contract with Stationery Office Holdings and, if so, how long the contract is for; what services are provided to it by them, and what criteria were used to select Stationary Office Holdings.

Angus MacKay: The Scottish Executive does not have a contract with Stationery Office Holdings.

Scottish Executive Procurement

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much it estimates it will have spent on employing Tactica Solutions from July 1999 until May 2003.

Angus MacKay: The current contact with Tactica Solutions expires in August 2001 with options to extend for one year plus one further year. At this point, no decision has been made as to whether to exercise the first year option and it is not possible to estimate expenditure with Tactica Solutions until May 2003.

Scottish Qualifications Authority

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to address any problems of stress and low staff morale at the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA).

Mr Jack McConnell: SQA’s statement of how it intends to implement the recommendations of the Deloitte and Touche report (available from the Parliament’s Reference Centre, Bib. no. 9778) sets out a number of actions which are intended to address the problem of low morale. These include a review of working practices and procedures, organisational restructuring and the deployment and recruitment of additional staff.

Special Educational Needs

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it has issued to local education authorities on the educational provision for children with attention deficiency disorder and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Nicol Stephen: Although no specific guidance has been issued on provision for children with attention deficiency disorder and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADD/ADHD), general guidance on special educational needs is contained in the Scottish Executive Manual of Good Practice for all staff and professionals involved with children and young people with special educational needs. Further advice on good practice can be found in the Scottish Executive publications Taking a Closer Look at Promoting Social Competence, Sharing Good Practice and Circular 4/96: Children and Young People with Special Educational Needs - Assessment and Recording.

Student Finance

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage and number of students will receive the young students bursary (a) in full and (b) in part.

Ms Wendy Alexander: The Scottish Executive estimates that 10% (7,024) of all young students will qualify for the maximum Young Students’ Bursary of £2,000 a year irrespective of whether they live with their parents or away from home. This maximum amount will be available to students from families whose income is up to £10,000.

  The amount of bursary will taper down to £1,170 a year at a family income of £15,000 and thereafter down to zero at a family income of around £25,500 a year.

  In total, we estimate that over 27.5% (27,100) of full-time students will get a bursary as part of their student support. This is around 40% of young students.

Teachers

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the pupil/teacher ratio in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools is in each local authority area and whether it holds any similar information in relation to independent schools.

Mr Jack McConnell: The following table shows the pupil:teacher ratios calculated from the September 1999 School Census.

  I have recently sent a report on the supply of teachers to the Convener of the Education, Culture and Sport Committee detailing the background to the current position on the collection of information relevant to teacher supply and outlining planned improvements to current methods. Copies of this report have been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. no. 10751) for the information of all members. A table giving this information on pupil teacher ratios was inserted into the report on 8 February 2001 as Annex J.

  Pupil:Teacher Ratios by Local Authority, School Type and Sector Type: 1999-2000

  


Authority 
  

Publicly funded 
  

Independent 
  






Primary 
  

Secondary 
  

Primary 
  

Secondary 
  



Scotland 
  

19.1 
  

12.9 
  

13.4 
  

8.7 
  



Aberdeen City 
  

18.9 
  

12.6 
  

11.5 
  

9.0 
  



Aberdeenshire 
  

18.4 
  

13.1 
  

 - 
  

 - 
  



Angus 
  

18.2 
  

12.7 
  

5.8 
  

 - 
  



Argyll & Bute 
  

17.0 
  

12.7 
  

13.3 
  

8.7 
  



Clackmannanshire 
  

20.0 
  

12.9 
  

17.0 
  

10.6 
  



Dumfries & Galloway 
  

18.6 
  

11.2 
  

5.3 
  

3.9 
  



Dundee City 
  

18.0 
  

12.2 
  

16.8 
  

9.4 
  



East Ayrshire 
  

20.5 
  

13.6 
  

 - 
  

 - 
  



East Dunbartonshire 
  

21.3 
  

13.8 
  

11.3 
  

 - 
  



East Lothian 
  

19.4 
  

13.0 
  

6.9 
  

6.9 
  



East Renfrewshire 
  

21.8 
  

14.2 
  

12.1 
  

6.9 
  



Edinburgh, City of 
  

19.5 
  

13.0 
  

15.8 
  

9.2 
  



Eilean Siar 
  

12.4 
  

8.9 
  

9.0 
  

 - 
  



Falkirk 
  

20.7 
  

12.4 
  

 - 
  

 - 
  



Fife 
  

18.2 
  

13.2 
  

7.6 
  

6.3 
  



Glasgow City 
  

19.2 
  

13.0 
  

16.7 
  

9.9 
  



Highland 
  

17.2 
  

11.3 
  

 - 
  

9.0 
  



Inverclyde 
  

20.0 
  

13.3 
  

16.8 
  

7.2 
  



Midlothian 
  

18.5 
  

13.3 
  

 - 
  

 - 
  



Moray 
  

18.7 
  

12.4 
  

5.2 
  

7.9 
  



North Ayrshire 
  

20.7 
  

13.5 
  

 - 
  

 - 
  



North Lanarkshire 
  

20.0 
  

13.3 
  

 - 
  

 - 
  



Orkney Islands 
  

14.4 
  

9.8 
  

 - 
  

 - 
  



Perth & Kinross 
  

18.1 
  

12.2 
  

7.7 
  

6.8 
  



Renfrewshire 
  

20.7 
  

13.5 
  

6.0 
  

n/a 
  



Scottish Borders 
  

17.9 
  

11.9 
  

6.5 
  

 - 
  



Shetland Islands 
  

12.4 
  

8.1 
  

 - 
  

 - 
  



South Ayrshire 
  

20.6 
  

13.6 
  

14.4 
  

7.0 
  



South Lanarkshire 
  

19.9 
  

13.6 
  

16.7 
  

9.6 
  



Stirling 
  

18.6 
  

12.9 
  

20.9 
  

6.9 
  



West Dunbartonshire 
  

19.3 
  

13.8 
  

3.9 
  

7.3 
  



West Lothian 
  

19.5 
  

13.4 
  

 - 
  

 - 
  



  Source: September 1999 School Census.

Tourism

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to promote eco-tourism.

Ms Wendy Alexander: This is a matter for the Scottish Tourist Board. I will ask the Chairman to write to you.